13 years after 9/11, the world shift

[CaptainCrunch]

I'm not here to glorify the horrible events on 9/11, nor am I here to replay videos of the attacks, talk about wacky conspiracy theories or play tribute videos. I think it would be more fitting for those to be in other threads.

But I look back on 9/11 as one of those horrible occasions that literally picked the world up in its teeth, shook it and then threw it back down and not necessarily for the better.

Since two planes smashed into the World Trade Center bringing them down, another one drove a hole in the Pentagon, and another smashed into the ground after the passengers rose up and stopped it we've seen a darker gritterier grainier world with not a lot of hope for the future.

1) The aftereffects of 9/11 did vast economic damage to the United States and its western allies. Two wars that in a way I would call failures because the face of warfare changed (more on that later), a major cost in terms of lives and actual dollars. I read somewhere that the American's had spend $10 trillion on the war on terror in an effort to protect its citizens, the British and Canadians also had to refocus their efforts because the enemy had changed. Osama Bin Laden had a brilliant mind for this. He knew that he could draw the Western Powers into the Middle East and then steadily bleed them in terms of lifes which effected trust in government and in terms of money. While you can trace the U.S. economic collapse to greed and mismanagement. You can also say that Osama kicked that first pin out.

Now the American Empire is toppling economically and sliding backwards.

2) The after effects militarily - No-one doubts that the American's have the most kick-a$$ingest military in the world, its massive, and technologically advanced. Right now the American Navy could probably defeat all of the other navies in the world combined. Pre-9/11 Western Military's were configured to defend American borders from external nation state threats. Their offensive capabilities were configured to destroy enemy military's in the field piecemeal. They had come off of a very successful first Gulf War. They went into the second post 9/11 gulf war and swept Hussien's army underfoot like a combine in a wheat field. But that's when things changed.

There was no end game scenario. The American's quickly found themselves fighting an enemy they couldn't identify, that would pop up, bleed them and then vanish into the night. An enemy that didn't care about planting bombs in civilian areas and on highways. The American's were slowly bled white they had 4500 soldiers killed and another 31,000 wounded. while it certainly doesn't match up to American casualties in a much shorter conflict like WW2. It destroyed the moral of the American people. After Vietnam the American armed forces reformed itself, and American people had gotten used to relatively blood free victories. In Afghanistan there were 2000 servicemen and woman killed and 17,000 wounded. America's former will to fight was sapped. They had literally had their belt buckle grabbed and their a$$es kicked.

Because of that American strategy in the field changed and not for the better. They began to rely on drone strikes and air strikes, but with bad intelligence this lead to civilian casualties, this destroyed foreign relations and good will.

In our desire to fight the war on terror with blood free results we let terror groups like Al Queda back off of the mat and back into the game where they have successfully won in Libya, and are heavily involved in Egypt and Iraq and Syria.

On top of the Economic battle, America had lost the physical battle.

3) The war abroad - When the towers fell, America had the good will of the world and they frittered it away. With what was deemed a legal war in Afghanistan America swept away a repugnant Taliban government and put a far more corrupt and virulent government in place. The war in Iraq was illegal and based on a shaky premise, and then was badly fought using a combination of frustrated soldiers and murderous mercenary companies. Personally at the time I liked the idea of Hussien being hung. I liked the idea of basically having a large aircraft carrier in the middle of Iraq. But it failed out. America frittered away its good will and then continued to fritter it away as two consecutive presidents in Bush and Obama badly fumbled the region.

We recently saw how far America's stature had fallen when they faced off against the Chinese and the Russians and not only blinked but showed little resolve. The biggest sign of things to come is that America couldn't gather anyone behind the banner, the British and Eu except for France firmly took a sideline seat and decided to let an ineffectual UN deal with it and hope that they could negotiate with a butcher like Asaad. The American's of the past who would have done the right thing, has become the America of the future with no resolve except in doing what is politically easy at home. The U.S. not only lost the wars, but they lost the peace as well.

4) The government broke the faith with the people - Now don't get me wrong, I believe that the quotes that are often bought up with old presidents waxing about individual rights and liberty can't be applied in this day and age. But when the planes hit the towers two consecutive governments chose security over liberty and gave the Terrorists the victory that they wanted. The concept of terrorism is to terrorize and force your enemy to make a fundamental change that is not for the better, and that can split your enemy. America is split. Heavy handed security protocols at airports, reports of NSA spying on Americas. We heard stories of the use of drones for border security. Paranoia has become the name of the game.

After 9/11 we braced for additional attacks. America was vulnerable and had too many soft spots. But the terrorist groups didn't need to strike us, the fear of these attacks turned Americans against their government and to an extent the government against their own people. We've entered the age of mistrust. We have seen on the positive side some plots scrambled, but mostly those are badly planned plots by not very smart angry people. But the Al Queda's of the world are sitting back and gathering strength and watching the Western World tear itself apart as it flails to find balance between security and liberty and sides with security.

5) The oldest saying is the enemy of my enemy is my friend. This changed after 9/11. We found out that Saudi Arabia really isn't the friend that we thought they were as extreme elements fund terrorists. We found out that Pakistan was playing their own game with their ISI waging war against their government and sheltering people like Osama Bin Laden, Mullah Omar and other members of key terrorist groups. America of course lashed out at Pakistan and the relationship became strained.

We learned that the reformed Russia that was our friend after 9/11 is really not our friend under Putin. We've lost trust and don't have the ability to trust on a truly global scale.

6) The Muslim world flew apart. The war on terror allowed terrorist groups to stir up the embittered feelings of old as different sects of the Muslim world went to war with each other. This killed any hope of a needed take over of the Muslim world by moderate factions as extremist factions have gained strength due to the common enemy of the United States and their clumsiness over the last 13 years. We now see a even more destabilized middle east where there isn't much in the way of moderate governments that can be counted on outside of Turkey and Jordan. Yet we bleed money to try to buy influence.

We have entered a new era where America is in a decline militarily, monetarily and moral levels. We have entered an era of a radically destabilized middle east that has become even more of a quagmire and where America doesn't have the will or strength to have any kind of influence. We've also seen a era where America much like the Roman Empire is declining while countries like China and Russia who hold deeply held resentments are gaining control over key strategic regions.

All because of four planes on September 11.

[nik-]

With the complete eradication of privacy rights in the US and abroad, the US response at home turned 9/11 into a massive victory for Bin Laden.

[GGG]

I don't know if anything changed post 9/11.

People used an event to consolidate power,
America got into ill-advised, expensive and possibly illegal wars,
the middle east is unstable
People are waxing about the decline of american power, morals, etc.
People are concerned about a loss of liberty due to technology

I think these general statements could be applied to any decade from the end of the 1950's onward.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by nik-

With the complete eradication of privacy rights in the US and abroad, the US response at home turned 9/11 into a massive victory for Bin Laden.

Contrary it could also be an event that prevents larger scale attacks. If 911 doesn't happen what was to stop a planned attack at an event like the Superbowl where 80,000 people could be killed? I realize that even before 911 events like the Supberbowl had security but so did airports and that didn't prevent 911.

[TurnedTheCorner]

The world got hotter
Thousands of people died in car accidents
Pests invaded America
Whales were (briefly) happier
Suicide rates dropped (in England)
Ecstasy took a hit
9/11 Traumatized a Generation of unborn children

http://www.cracked.com/article_20009...ged-world.html

[The Goon]

Sorry to be pedantic, but it's only 12 years since 9/11.

[Addick]

I'm not even sure if Bin Laden knew how great of an impact his actions would have. Looking at security measures alone, he's changed our way of life.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by The Goon

Sorry to be pedantic, but it's only 12 years since 9/11.

[Knut]

Watching the World Change

Spoiler!

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by Addick

I'm not even sure if Bin Laden knew how great of an impact his actions would have. Looking at security measures alone, he's changed our way of life.

Other than going to the airport being more of a pain and needing a passport, are the changes really noticeable in terms the the average citizen and his day to day life?

[GGG]

Originally Posted by nik-

With the complete eradication of privacy rights in the US and abroad, the US response at home turned 9/11 into a massive victory for Bin Laden.

Technology is what has eroded privacy rights. Privacy is just easier to invade. The US has always used all available technology to spy on its citizens. And it uses whatever boogyman is available to justify it. It used to be communisim, now its terrorism.

[BigBrodieFan]

Excellent write up- thanks for this perspective. How true, Osama Bin Laden achieved far more than he probably even set out to do. The state of affairs in the US is very sad. Just yesterday I received a text stating that my kids' school was in lock down because someone threatened there would be a shooting and the problem is, I am so used to these lockdowns that it barely even phased me. My kids go to a school that has 6 armed police officers on patrol inside of it at all times- and they are lucky that they have this. Most don't have the budget. I was an officer in the Canadian Navy and I was very proud to be part of such a fine military, but I don't want my children to even consider joining the military, US or Canadian. I can't get through a line at the airport without getting felt up, yet every fool in the city can carry a concealed weapon on the basis of 'Merica- the land of the free, the brave. We're all wound tighter than Tom Thumb's Ass and we're willing to point the finger at anyone who looks different, has an accent, or speaks another language- and people make more money on unemployment and welfare than minimum wage. What a friggen mess.

Anyway, enjoyed your thoughtful write up Captn'

[Puppet Guy]

I don't remember who said it, but in the days after 9/11 someone mentioned that "the world didn't change; America just joined it". There's a lot of truth in that. I do find it odd that in the Facebook culture we have that people seem suddenly concerned with their lack of privacy.

[jofillips]

In general a great post, though very negative and pessimistic.

I didn't know Libya is an Al-Qaeda state now!
I thought power there was a mish-mash of militia groups that haven't really disarmed and generally local in nature....

As for Syria, I don't think anyone but the hawks look down on the US for not going gung-ho into this. Long term they have fences to fix....

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by jofillips

In general a great post, though very negative and pessimistic.

He saves the positive posts of similar length and detail for the upcoming Star Wars movies.

[pylon]

All I know is this.

The spectacle of witnessing those two building collapsing is still an absolutely surreal experience for me. The chill that went down my spine, and the shock that I felt when it happened, was a sensation I never thought I would feel from looking at a TV. It was the first time I felt 'terror'. I just remember standing there in my underwear, with my jaw dropped for a good minute after it happened, staring at my JVC television set, contemplating what this meant. Were we headed for WW3? How many people did I just witness die? How did that even happen?

It is our generations JFK moment. Where were you moment? My folks that were around for JFK, said it was even worse to them, as they knew, the world would never be the same again.

[polak]

Proved that Terrorism works.

[jofillips]

yea it kinda struck home to America what terrorism is - a lot of the world has known it now for over 40 years.
I remember the IRAs actions in Britain growing up - innocent people being attacked in Ulster and the mainland, kinda reinforces why terrorism can never be allowed to work.
Ironic that US citizens were directly funding the bombs and guns used in the Troubles.

[psyang]

I was working as a contractor at NavCan in Ottawa when the planes hit. One of the scariest feelings I've felt came when reports of a plane hitting the pentagon starting coming out. My project manager read the headline out loud, then declared in a shocked voice mixed with disbelief: "This is war. America is at war."

Soon after, all contractors were made to leave the premises immediately. As I left, someone had set up a TV in the lobby and a large, silent crowd had already gathered around it. I went straight home to my wife and one-year old. My wife was oblivious to what was going on, and I turned on the TV to show her. Watching the horror unfold on TV and watching our 1 year old playing happily next to it was surreal.

[Locke]

The wise words of Jimmy Carr.

NSFW for 1 swear word.

NSFW!